Paul Heyman – The ONLY man who could take over from Vince McMahon

As time goes on and years pass, our favourite billionaire megalomaniac grows older. In the next 15 years we will most probably see, if not the passing, but the WWF/E retirement of Vince McMahon. The man who undercut his dad to buy WWWF, the man who obliterated the local territories, raided all the best talents from those territories and constructed the Wrestling powerhouse that is the WWF/E, brought Wrestlemania, Summerslam, Survivor Series, King of the Ring, No Holds Barred……. Ok, I’ll let that one go, but you get the idea. Vince McMahon has enriched each and every wrestling fan’s life and he’s done but by not giving you what you want – The man is a genius.

But when his days come to an end, who will take the helm of WWF/E once “The Boss” has clocked out of titan towers for the last time? Lets’ look at the Candidates:

1. Stephanie McMahon – The obvious choice and the purists’ choice. With her Dad’s business nous that she will no doubt have absorbed over the years and her own knowledge of the business, Stephanie would be the natural replacement. Also with the added value of The Game as her other half, the McMahon/Helmsley era could be the future for the “E”

2. Shane O’ Mac – Although Shane is off doing his thing with the Chinese at the moment and playing around the fringes of MMA, I’m sure that if the call came from his Dad then Shane would possibly make a return to WWF/E. He has the personality and has shown in the past that not only can he do the Heel/Face routine; the man can take a bump! (Blackman? Summerslam? Anyone?). The only question is WILL Shane come back to the business or has he washed his hands of it and moved on with his life?

3. Eric Bischoff – Not going to happen. I’m sure that even John “Jonny Ace” Laurinaitis would veto that! Lots of legal red tape if this is ever going to happen, That and a restraining order on Hogan! I personally like EB for what he did at WCW, he took it from a grotty sound stage with no-one watching and made it into a grown up Wrestling Show. I wonder if he can do the same with TNA? Because at the moment, that’s what the iMPACT zone looks like, WCW Saturday Night but with a bit more black paint thrown around the building. I’ll save my full rant on this for another day!

4. Jim Cornette – The mouth returneth? I don’t think so! JC has sued more people than Donald Trump and come away with fewer victories than Barry Horowitz. Jim also has a deep, deep love of independent Wrestling and to take the Ringmasters job at the WWF/E would be morally difficult. Even for him.

5. Paul Heyman – The Whole F’N Show. Paul E has been in every single aspect of this game. He’s been a Wrestler, He’s been a manager, He’s been a Pundit, An Announcer, a Producer, A Managing Director, A Photographer, A Booker, An Agent, Security, Ring Technician and most importantly, A Fan. In my lifetime as a Wrestling fan, I have never seen anyone with the passion for Wrestling like Paul E. The man paid his dues by working the old indy circuit before being hired and tossed aside by WCW’s Wrestling Nazi Regime. After his unceremonious departure from ‘Rasslin Paul didn’t go and sulk like others (SHANE HELMS! Sorry, Fresh wound!), Paul dusted himself off and created the single greatest entity in 1990’s Wrestling. Some say HBK and I hate to disagree with that but ask a lot of Wrestling fans who are 26/27 what was cool about Wrestling in the 1990’s and your answer will be 3 letters. E-C-W. Now we all know about ECW and what it meant, however my point is that Paul Heyman is the most creative man in Wrestling. TNA tried to get him and tried to get him and he’s said no due to his commitments for the Heyman Hustle, which is awesome by the way, and this shows that The Carter/Hogan/Bischoff orgy KNOW, they absolutely KNOW that he is the man who can take them to greatness.

With all those candidates, the company would be left in, the majority, safe hands. Looking forward though, Wrestling recycles itself, and in about 5-7 years we are due another revolution along the lines of ECW. Not brute violence, but a counter culture Wrestling programme, something with a bit of Bollocks to it! Something that will send ruffles through the business as much as when Shane Douglas threw down the NWA belt and called it Dead.

If the WWF/E is to go from strength to strength then it needs to adapt, evolve and prepare for the future. It’s not going to be long before the TNA show goes mobile and we may, and that’s a big may, but we may have another Monday Night Wars-esque situation. If we do then WWF/E, in the absence of Vince McMahon, will need a talisman more than any of us ever thought. And I can’t think of anyone better to piss all over Bischoff’s masterplan....

Comments

Paul Hayman would be an excellent choice, but it's not going to happen I'm afraid. I think it's probably 80% guaranteed at the moment that the next rulers of the WWE universe will be HHH and Steph. HHH will assume a role similar to the one Vince has been doing over the years (as an on-screen character and occasionally wrestling matches) and Steph in my opinion will also take on an on screen role (as GM perhaps, or even have 1 on each brand as the GM's, providing the brand split is still in power at the time).

The 20% chance I'm giving to Shane. Word is that he's had a fall out with his dad, and that's part of the reason he left, but I'm sure that the door is open for him to return, he is family after all. He would also be a great personality to have back in the company.

Heyman would be AWESOME, but there's just no way possible. HHH has been working on this for years. He married and popped 3 kids out of Steph. And with him recently being the voice in the announcer's ears is just a sign of him having even more power and eventually stepping into VKM's shoes.

i dont see paul heyman taking the spot of vince mcmahon why its simple??! when he started with this ECW program he has changed the wrestling bussiness forever and he paved the way for all the wrestling promotions and introduced to them the fast aggressive style in preforming and also the extreme hardcore style wich every wrestling company uses these days but you need to remember something even thought paul heyman was the creator and the founder of the modern wrestling style but he also was a bad manager when it comes to the money and other financial stuff. back in ECW a huge part of its downfall happend because of this and he was gambler he blew a lot of the promotion money on gambling and he wanted to know everything and to be superior on everyone and wanted to have ultimate control on the company so despite he was a wrestling genius he was also hard and dangerous to deal with and to do bussiness with and i think mr mcmahon knows this very well and he wouldnt handle an over 50 years of success and revolution to paul heyman

Actually, most people imo would say the greatest thing about wrestling in the 90s were 3 words...
W-C-W!!! I'm not taking away anything from Heyman, but WCW/Eric Bischoff was responsible for the greatest era in pro wrestling. Heyman WAS a wrestling genius, but IS he still a wrestling genius still remains to be answered. Lets not forget that Eric Bischoff was also a wrestling genius back in the 90s. He spotlighted the cruiserweight division, brought in big names such as Hogan, Nash, Hall, ect, created one of the biggest sensations in pro wrestling since the Ultimate Warrior...namely Goldberg. He had the insight to go on live while Raw was pre-taped. But this was well over a decade ago, and it seems that with time and age, bischoff has loss touch with the fans. Who is to say that Heyman doesn't fall under the same category? Is Heyman capable of being a success running a wrestling company...he was kind of over a decade ago. (lets face it, he knows wrestling, but not the inner workings of actually running a business...such as manging finances). Is he still a wrestling genius...even if everybody believes he is, nobody really knows!